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On January 1, 1804, Haiti proclaimed independence from France, becoming the first Black republic in the world and the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian revolution, led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was the only successful slave rebellion to result in an independent state in modern history.

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all enslaved people in the Confederate states in rebellion to be free. The decree did not immediately free a single slave — as the federal government did not control those territories — but changed the moral character of the Civil War and paved the way for the Thirteenth Amendment.

On January 1, 1999, eleven European Union countries adopted the euro as their official currency — the largest monetary integration in history. Physical coins and banknotes would not arrive until January 1, 2002. The euro is today the world's second reserve currency and the official currency of 20 countries with more than 340 million citizens.